


My Old Man's Badge

by Tollero



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: its all speculation and theories and hc's and whatnot, minor spoilers? maybe? probably not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-04-24 15:00:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4924087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tollero/pseuds/Tollero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The small skeleton slowly turned the doorknob until the heard the clicking confirmation that it was unlocked, before slowly pushing it open. He shut it quickly but quietly behind himself and approached the bed, the room too dark for him to make out anything concrete. Standing beside it silently for a few seconds, he reached up and set a hand on the blurry bundle on top of the bed.</p>
<p>"Dad."</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Old Man's Badge

**Author's Note:**

> i said my next thing would have sans and toriel kissing but this was much easier,  
> if the middle-kinda bit seems familiar, that's bcus it was originally a comic i posted on tumblr! whoops

Sans woke with a small yell, lurching upward into a sitting position in his bed, boney hands gripping his sheets so hard he thought they might rip. He couldn't claim to know what woke him up, but something felt. Wrong. He'd been sleeping peacefully when suddenly, for less than a moment, he thought he couldn't breathe, and he'd felt everything in the world stop or shake or _something_ , do something the world shouldn't do, lest it wake up sleeping skeletons. Maybe it was a brief earthquake? Those weren't uncommon underground, but he could usually sleep through them. Sans could feel that sleep wouldn't come back easy, this time. Might as well wake up somebody else.

He made sure to shut his door quietly as to not ruin his wake-up-surprise, and tiptoed down the hall, past Papyrus' room, and toward their father's. Thankfully, he never made a fuss when one of them woke him up late at night, even though he had to get up early and stay late. Sans hated bugging him, but he was out of options. His dad usually calmed him down enough for him to pass out again.

The small skeleton slowly turned the doorknob until the heard the clicking confirmation that it was unlocked, before slowly pushing it open. He shut it quickly but quietly behind himself and approached the bed, the room too dark for him to make out anything concrete. Standing beside it silently for a few seconds, he reached up and set a hand on the blurry bundle on top of the bed.

"Dad."

No response. Sans let out a hum and pressed down a little harder, making a worried sound as there was more give than usual. His last attempt consisted of climbing on top of the bed, and his eyes widened in surprise as he did not feel the slightly warmed, solid bones of his father, but instead soft blankets and a single pillow. The usual contents of his dad's bed, minus the dad part. If he wasn't around, someone else had to suffer with Sans' restlessness.

He was less careful in going to Papyrus' room. Any hopes of him being awake as well were dashed as he entered, the low light of his nightlight illuminating the smaller skeleton's sleeping shape. He approached the oversized bed without hesitation and leaned over so he could shake his brother awake. "Hey, Pap. Get up." Sans was met with a soft grumbling noise. He shook him harder until Papyrus weakly slapped at his hand before rolling over.

"What?" His voice was full of sleep, his blinking uneven for a second before he squinted up at Sans. He let him sit up and spoke again.

"Was there an earthquake or somethin'?"

"No." The question was, admittedly, a little stupid. Papyrus was more sensitive to that kind of thing than Sans. The older of the two leaned over the side of the bed, arms crossed on top of it.

"I thought I felt something. And dad isn't back from work yet..."

"Who?"

"Dad." He gave him a confused look. Papyrus' face was blank.

"Huh."

"Our dad, bro."

"What."

Weird. More worrying than weird. Sans leaned away from the bed and glanced from his brother to the floor and back again. "What's my name?"

"Sans."

"What's your name?"

"Pa'bybus."

"Good enough." His hands fussed at his side as he felt something bubbling inside of himself, but willed it down. He'd just woken up, of course Papyrus couldn't remember anything. He couldn't even say his own name. "... You're probably tired. We'll talk in the morning."

"Okay." His words were a tired mumble and Papyrus was immediately face-first in his pillow again. "Night-night, Sans." Sans didn't reply. He was quieter as he left his room, hesitating as he looked from his own room back to his dad's. His feet shuffled on the carpet as he went to the latter. Curling up in a spot that would _force_ him to move Sans, should he come home in the night, he shut his eyes. As expected, sleep did not come easily. Sleep didn't come at all.

He opened his eyes for the first time in hours at the sound of an unfamiliar alarm clock. His hand tapped uselessly at its top before he managed to silence it, and he scooted himself off the bed, landing with a small grunt. He hadn't been disturbed. Dad wasn't back. It was rare that he stayed at work so long, but it did happen, and as much as he wished it didn't bug him, it did. Papyrus' confusion on top of that... Sans shook his head as he left the room and returned to his little brother's, knocking on it. There was the soft thump of a pillow hitting the door with dead-on accuracy, as well as a soft yell slowly increasing in volume. Sans waited outside.

Papyrus stumbled out a minute or so later, changed out of his pajamas and into his usual clothing, one hand rubbing at his tired eyes while the other clutched tightly at a small, worn blanket. He glared up at Sans with as much hate as he could muster- which, for a kid that didn't hate anything, wasn't much. "Why'd you wake me up?" Sans reached over and gently ruffled the top of his skull.

"You were gonna wake up soon anyway. Do you remember dad saying anything-"

"I dunno who that is." Papyrus muttered as he pushed at his older brother. He tried to walk past him, but Sans grabbed his hand. "What!"

"That's not funny!" His voice was harsh, coupled with an actually stern glare, and the smaller skeleton closed his mouth. "You can't just pretend to forget him whenever he comes home late. What if something happened at work?" He didn't let go of his hand as he walked before toward the room he'd come from. Their dad's. There had to be something in there to jump Papyrus' memory. Maybe little kids had trouble remembering things early in the morning. With his mind full of hopeful thoughts, he didn't hear his younger sibling's whines about how tight his grip was getting or why he was being dragged around.

Sans managed to drag him down the wall, into the room and near the closet before he turned around and finally let go. Papyrus rubbed at his sore hand. "Why'd you drag me here?"

"Do you know whose room this is?"

"No. I'unno." He sniffed a little and Sans turned away. Did he have to cry at everything? Pushing the closet door open, he shuffled inside and got to his knees in front of a small box. He knew what he was looking for.

Papyrus didn't follow him inside, but did stay just outside of the small space, in case leaving would get him in trouble. Sans didn't move much but he did shove a photo back towards him. "Do you know _now_?" The photo was a little familiar. There was him, in front, because he was the shortest. Sans was behind him and a little to the side, grinning wide. Behind them was a very tall man in a black coat, mouth in a small smile, cracks in his skull near his eyes. He huffed.

"No." The taller skeleton let out a frustrated groan and swiped the picture out of his hands, and Papyrus took that as a cue to leave. He hated being around Sans when he was mad.

Left to himself and his racing thoughts, he kept going through the worn box, pulling out photo after photo of himself, Papyrus and their father, or just him and their dad, or just him with some of his coworkers. How could he not remember? Papyrus had gone through this box more than Sans had. He would have every item in it memorized. He would know their _dad_ and how he worked late and how commuting to and from Hotland was hard and he would probably be back in another hour, looking and feeling tired but still willing to give Papyrus his good morning hug and kiss Sans' forehead even though he pretended to hate it.

His hands shuffled through the very bottom of the box, feeling something hard and cold. He leaned back as he withdrew his hand and looked down at the polished, bronze badge he'd picked up.

_W.D. Gaster._


End file.
